AUBURN, Mich. — When the pressure’s high and the money’s on the line, Ashton Winger only seems to perform better.
Leading Friday night’s DIRTcar Summer Nationals feature at Tri-City Motor Speedway with only a handful to go, the 21-year-old DIRTcar late model ringer had a solid lead in traffic and looked as if he was going to cruise to his third $10,000 payday of the season.
With the wave of the white flag and a dive down into turn three, a spinning lapped car appeared right in his path, bringing out the caution.
Winger took evasive action and was able to avoid getting caught-up in the incident, keeping him as the leader for the restart. But now, a fast and hungry Devin Moran sat on his rear bumper for the restart – a one-lap shootout for all the marbles.
Winger mashed the throttle at the drop of the green and mounted a small gap to Moran, but Moran’s plan was already unfolding. He went high in turns one and two to build momentum and sailed it deep into turns three and four, looking for a last-corner slide job for the win. But Winger was not to be denied.
The two bumped and banged wheels coming to the stripe, and Winger was able to hang on for the win by .197 seconds over Moran.
“I was just trying really hard. I wanted to win. I probably should’ve leaned on him a little harder, but I just don’t really race that way,” Moran said.
“I’m thankful for him racing me clean,” Winger said. “He could have roughed me up there, because he drove by me like three times.”
Tanner English had another solid night with a fourth-place run, but lost more points on his lead over Winger for runner-up in the standings.
Unofficially, it appears the two drivers will be tied for second in points heading into the final race, with an extra $3,480 on the line.
The finish:
Feature (40 Laps) 1. 12-Ashton Winger[4]; 2. 9-Devin Moran[3]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[2]; 4. 81E-Tanner English[1]; 5. 6M-Dona Marcoullier[12]; 6. 42-Chad Finley[9]; 7. 74-Mitch McGrath[16]; 8. 4-Travis Stemler[8]; 9. 27-Eric Spangler[10]; 10. 32- Bobby Pierce[5]; 11. 19X-Cody Bauer[6]; 12. 21D-David Hilliker[13]; 13. 19-Derrick Hilliker[14]; 14. M14-Brandon Thirlby[11]; 15. 55-Jeep Van Wormer[7]; 16. 11X-Ryan Lanphierd[15]; 17. 21N-Logan Nickerson[18]; 18. 4T-Andrew Terrill[21]; 19. 14G-Joe Godsey[17]; 20. 38-Thomas Hunziker[24]; 21. 03-JC Witherspoon[20]; 22. 16-Mike Staszak[23]; 23. 14R-Jeff Roth[19]; 24. 248-Brandon Lance[22]